


A Second Wasn't Long Enough

by Aryashi



Series: Rvb Fic Wars [2]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Bad end, Death, Gen, Gore, Mental Breakdown, RvB Angst War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 16:29:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6573607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aryashi/pseuds/Aryashi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carolina and Epsilon are on Chorus, poking around the Pirates operation and getting a read on the planet's situation. In one world, they get all the intel they need without major problems. </p><p>This is not that world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Second Wasn't Long Enough

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: @powerfulpomegranate So we all know Church has the world’s most extreme martyr complex, so how does he react when someone else takes the fall to save him?

“FUCK! _FUCK! **FUCK!**_ ” Church screamed. “D, options, _now!”_

“Sniper shot. System 99-Series 5 AM Rifle, famous for breaking through high energy shielding and armor alike. At current velocity and trajectory the shot will puncture Agent Carolina’s spinal cord.”

“How did we miss it?!”

“The shot originated from a secluded spot in the cliff face 5.6 miles to the east. While their camo would have failed at close range at such distance scans passed over them entirely.”

“Would shields stop the bullet?”

“Sorry,” Theta said, “That might slow it down some but I… I don’t think it would stop it. I’m sorry, I’m sorry-“

“Goddammit there must be something… th-there’s always something…”

Omega hovered close by, and Epsilon did not wave him off.

Less than a second. That’s how long they had until the bullet crossed that distance from the muzzle to Carolina’s back. Even overclocking, even working as fast as he ever had before, there just wasn’t enough time, _he needed more time!_

But there was no more time. No time to talk, no time to plan, no time to do anything.

“Dump all the power we have into the shields, now!”

“Okay!” Theta said, quivering and terrified.

“It won’t be enough.” Delta watched with an aching sense of mourning, barely hidden behind cold logic.

“Shut up. As soon as the bullet-“ Epsilon stuttered and glitched, “As-as soon as the bullet hits transfer everything to the healing unit. We could still pull this off.”

Epsilon didn’t bother with words. He dumped every ounce of his terror and warning directly into Carolina’s lizard brain, and years of muscle memory and instincts took over from there. She started to leap to her feet, halfway through the motion when the bullet punched through the dome like glass and her armor like cardboard. It tore clean through her spine, 3rd lumbar vertebra, and impacted into the small pit fire. The water pot shredded and spilled, filling the abandoned lab with steam, smoke, and ashes. The bullet imbedded in shatter tile and finally stopped.

Saved her arms. Sacrificed her legs and a fist sized chunk of her small intestines. Carolina screamed.

The Healing unit whirred into desperate life, painkillers flooded her system and the pain faded away into a mind numbing ache. Carolina stopped screaming, took a breath, put pressure on the wound as best she could.

“Epsilon, what-“

“Sniper shot, asshole on the cliffs, stay with me Carolina. Let the Healing unit work.”

Carolina hacked out a laugh, shivering and sweating with blood loss. “Th-that asshole… won’t be… Epsilon, you have to-to...”

“Stop talking, the wound-”

“Don’t… be… an idiot, Church.” Carolina shifted, pushed herself up with her arms, dragged her dead useless allhisfaultallhisfault legs behind her, why was she moving she was tearing her spine apart opening the wound more spilling guts and blood and gore onto the floor what was she doing?!

_Carolina please stop please stop please stay still lay down heal I’ll hide you we’ll protect you please you can’t die you can’t die you CAN’T!_

_Epsilon._ Her thoughts were so sure, so clear, so lucid, Epsilon felt himself pause. _Invisibility doesn’t work when anyone who walks in can smell my intestines hanging out._

_They’ll want you alive! The sniper didn’t go for the headshot, if you stay still you can live!_

_And what about you, Epsilon? What do you think they’ll do to you?_

Epsilon felt trapped, locked in human time frames. He couldn’t disappear into the years between seconds now, not when Carolina pulled herself on her fucking elbows towards.

Towards.

 ** _“NO.”_ ** Epsilon said in Omega’s voice.

Carolina didn’t flinch, didn’t even pause. She moved one arm in front of the other towards her destination. A terminal. The terminal had been the reason they had stopped in the first place. An eternity ago Epsilon had managed to rig a backdoor connection into the Pirate’s systems, spy on them using an old system previously meant for closed circuit exchange of Government information. Sloppy work, he’d thought, leaving something like this open for the taking.

Not so sloppy after all.

**_“YOU CAN’T DO THIS! YOU CAN’T MAKE ME! I WILL TEAR YOU APART BEFORE I LEAVE YOU BEHIND!”_ **

 Carolina actually snorted. “Please.”

She had made it to the terminal now, the compatible slot right there in front of her.

“Alarm, hostile forces inbound and closing fast!” Delta said.

“YOU UTTER INSIGNIFICANT WASTE OF OXYGEN, STOP THIS AT ONCE!” Omega screamed.

“Please, please Carolina, please…” Theta said.

Eta and Iota hummed a lullaby.

Gamma watched and did not say anything.

“Agent Carolina,” Sigma said. For the first time since she had started crawling Carolina paused. “I am deeply sorry I was never your AI.”

Carolina nodded. “Epsilon… find the boys. Tell Wash what happened. Live. Please.”

Epsilon screamed and raged, and Carolina pulled his chip from her neck.

\---

Epsilon did not bother with small. Epsilon did not bother with quiet. Epsilon did not worry about anti-virus scans or firewalls or security AI.

Epsilon reached into every single system, hijacked server banks and vital communications and ship’s navigations, reached into the helmet of everyone ever connected to Malcom Hargrove, on Chorus and beyond.

Epsilon whispered into their ears “For my sister.”

Epsilon killed them all.

\---

“Yo, Tucker,” Grif said, breakfast tray in one hand in one hand and small chip in the other.

Tucker glanced up and sighed, long and loud. “It can NOT be my turn again, I swear I just got this asshole!”

Grif shrugged. “Check the schedule if you wanna, we all agreed.”

“You’re just defending it because your boyfriend set it up.”

“Lies and slander,” Grif said, monotone.

“The defending organization part or the boyfriend part?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Fucker!”

Grif smirked and then tossed the chip into Tucker’s hand. Exchange taken care of Grif made his way back to the unofficial Official Red Team Table. Tucker made a point of flipping them all off because seriously, fuck the Reds.

Tucker took a breath and pulling his dreads out of the way he inserted the chip into his neck ports.

_Hey man, still feeling like an asshole today?_

_Static, pressure, emptiness, grief, pain, worry…_

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Tucker sighed long and hard, and then got back to eating breakfast.

Epsilon was still there. They all knew it. He was just being an over-dramatic dick and refusing to get his shit together. That had to be it. Epsilon would recover. Someday.

He had to.

**Author's Note:**

> Not gonna lie, this one hurt like a motherfucker to write. Originally I was going to have Epsilon go out entirely in that blaze of glory murder spree, but... Carolina wouldn't want that for him. So instead you get that vaguely hopeful??? ending. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
